Aldo DiBelardino, the ladder’s inventor and X-IT’s chief executive, said: “They are simply trying to litigate us out of existence. We are a small company and they have very deep pockets.”Separately, Kidde yesterday issued a trading update. The company, run by the chief executive Michael Harper, saw a 25 per cent drop in demand for civil aerospace aftersales care in October, with some recovery in November and December.. Arcadia, the fashion retailer which is being stalked by Icelandic stores group Baugur, yesterday reported buoyant sales growth over the Christmas period but said it does not expect the discussions with Baugur to be concluded before the end of January. If something emerges we will consider it then.”His comments came as Arcadia reported a 9.4 per cent increase in like-for-like sales across its core brands in the 19 weeks to 5 January. Gross margins were up 1.1 percentage points across the group and all formats grew margins and sales.Baugur has indicated a possible bid price of 280p-300p per share, valuing Arcadia, which is led by Stuart Rose, at £567m.

But analysts believe the continuing recovery may push the deal beyond Baugur “They’re not going to get it for 300p,” one analyst said. The shares fell 0.25p to 276.75p.Mr Hall expressed optimism on the outlook for consumer spending despite widespread fears of a slowdown “The key is interest rates and job prospects. And our view is that rates are at such a low level now that even a percentage point increase over the next 12 months will not be enough to affect our target market.”Laura Ashley has not enjoyed the same boom conditions and issued a profits warning yesterday due to a slump in spending from American and Japanese tourists. In the six weeks to 5 January clothing sales were down by 13 per cent on the previous year on a like-for-like basis. As a result profits for the full year will now be similar to the previous year’s £8.4m, against City forecasts of £11m.

Its shares dropped 18 per cent to 22.25p.Jim Bellingham, the finance director, said sales in its 13 key tourist stores in locations such as London, York and Windsor were 27 per cent down in the past three months.Meanwhile, Hamleys, the toy retailer, had a good Christmas with sales at its flagship store on London’s Regent Street up by 7.1 per cent on the previous year. Simon Burke, the chairman, said the result was significantly better than hoped after 11 September when the terrorist attacks had a significant impact on sales.. The Ministry of Defence could begin leasing front-line equipment such as transport aircraft and ships from City financiers under a scheme unveiled yesterday by Britain’s biggest military hardware supplier, BAE Systems. BAE estimated the market in the UK alone at £4bn.Under this arrangement, the MoD would pay for equipment and services through operating leases rather than placing conventional procurement orders with contractors such as BAE.Terence Black, managing director of the newly created BAE division, said that among the programmes that could be financed in this way was an MoD requirement for a £2bn fleet of strategic tanker aircraft which will be used to refuel fighter jets.A new battlefield communications system, Skynet 5, and a new military flight training system for the RAF could be financed in a similar way.Mr Black said it was unlikely that equipment such as aircraft carriers or the Eurofighter would be provided through operating leases. But he said roll-on, roll-off ferries used for transporting military equipment to theatres of war could be paid for in this way.BAE stressed that it was not seeking to raise new capital itself to fund any procurement programmes through its own balance sheet. Instead, it will help pull together groups of banks and financial institutions to provide the funding.Mr Black said that one advantage of this new form of defence financing was that it would enable the MoD to order additional equipment beyond what its capital budget permitted.The MoD has just carried out its first experiment with this type of procurement financing by agreeing to acquire a fleet of C17 transport aircraft from Boeing on operating leases.